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COLUMBUS 



The "Christ-Bearer. 



BY 



JOHN A. MOONEY. 




NEV/ YORK: 
THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY CO. 



.12-EA^T .IZTH 3TREET. 




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COLUWBUS-THE "CHRIST-BEARER." 

HRISTOPHER, the " Christ-bearer '—was ever 
babe more prophetically named at the baptismal 
font than the boy-babe of the wool-comber of 
Genoa? The first Christopher, the Saint, earned 
his name, according to the legend, by charitably 
carrying upon his shoulders a stray Child that 
dare not cross a fordless, rushing river. You 
have seen the woodcuts, so popular in the 
days of Columbus. The tall, vigorous old 
man, waist-deep in the stream, bends beneath the weight of 
the Child. A heavy weight indeed ! For in his little hand 
this wondrous Child bears the globe itself. A true Chris- 
topher, like his patron, Columbus longed to be; a bearer of 
Christ across the dark waters of the perilous sea; a bearer 
of tidings of great joy to the forgotten parts of that round 
world he had conceived. 

When, in 1484, hungry, poorly clothed, sad at heart, he 
knocked at the Convent of La Rabida, outside of Palos town, he 




4 Columbus — The ^'' Christ- Bea re) y 

asked only for a morsel to eat, and a bed, for himself and for his 
loved son, Diego. Ten disappointing years had been s^^ent in 
seeking aid from the great ones of the world. Princes, nobles, 
the rich, had listened to him as to a dreamer. Here, in this 
hospitable Convent, Cokniibus was to find, at last, a man who 
could appreciate the value of his scientific argument, and the 
grandeur of his religious ideas. How joyfully did Columbus, 
compass in hand, set forth his thoughtful, brilliant theory, and 
his firm resolve, before Fray Juan Perez de Marchina, the 
learned Franciscan, who was noted not only for his piety, but 
also for his acquirements as a classical scholar, a cosmographer, 
a mathematician, and an astronomer ! It was God's work, es- 
pecially designed by an all- wise Providence for the greater 
glory of the Cross and the greater good of mankind. Friar 
and sailor enthusiastically agreed, and therefore work that 
should be, must be done. During eight years the faithful Perez 
encouraged, wrote, interceded, while Columbus journeyed to 
and from Court, petitioned, memorialized, fasted, scourged, and 
prayed. There were wars and weddings in Castile and Aragon. 
He who would carry the Christ should, indeed, first and last, 
bear a heavy, crushing cross. 

Longer delay the friar would not brook. From the Convent 
of La Rabida to the new city of Santa Fe, on a mule's back, he 



Coiumhiis — The '^ Christ-Bearer.^^ 5 

makes his way, dangerously. Isabella is won over, and, after 
many obstacles, a voyage of discovery is agreed upon. From 
Palos the caravels shall set sail. Who will provide the sailors ? 
Not a man of them dare risk the terrors of that Gloomy Ocean^ 
where Satan himself and his monster spirits hold uncontested 
sway. Neither royal requisitions, nor the queen's appointed 
officers, avail. Once more Friar Juan Perez appears on the 
scene. He quiets needless fears, he encourages the half-hearted, 
he inspires men with high motive, and wins the consent of timid 
women, appealing to their faith in Christ and to their zeal for 
his holy religion. 

The far-seeing, unselfish, kindly priest won. On the Santa 
Maria ^ the Nifia^ the Pinta^ the Spanish sailors work with a will. 
The vessels are equipped, provisions stored. Friday, the 3d of 
August, and all is ready. With Columbus at their head, the 
sailors march to the Convent of La Rabida. They have washed 
their souls clean. At the altar stands Father Juan Perez. How 
fervently, thankfully, beseechingly, he offers up the Most Holy 
Sacrifice ! The true Body and Blood of Our Blessed Lord 
every man of the crew receives. Amid a crowd of hoping, fear- 
ful, weeping women, men, and children, they return to the 
shore. The friar is there. Like Columbus, he has no doubt as 
to the success of the expedition. Like Columbus, he is filled 



6 Columlnis — The ' ^ Christ- Bearer. '■ 

with burning zeal for the Faith. On Diego's lips the father 
presses a long, loving kiss. The friar and Columbus embrace. 
As the last boat puts off, Christopher raises aloft the flag under 
which the petty fleet is to sail. Into the standard are woven 
the arms of the mightiest of kings — the proudest, most glorious 
arms — the Cros*s. On the Cross, royal Cross, hangs the body, 
wounded, bleeding, of the Saviour. In the name of Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, Juan Perez, the Friar of La Rabida, 
blesses banner, leader, crew and boat ; and the Christ-bearer be- 
gins his appointed mission. 

From the port of Palos Columbus sailed away, not as a Ca- 
bot, a Vespucci, a De Leon, a Gilbert, or a Hudson sailed. 
Neither love of adventure, nor love of fame, nor greed of gold 
or of power moved the great, the tender soul of Christopher. 
'^ In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ ": thus opens his log- 
book. Chosen of God, he was on the way to bring Christ, 
the Redeemer, to lands hitherto unknown. Of his mission he 
was certain. Power he would have. From the rulers of Cas- 
tile and of Aragon, he demanded that he should be named 
Viceroy and Governor-General of the lands he would discover, 
and Grand Admiral of the Atlantic; that his dignities should 
be hereditary; and that he should have a tenth of all the 
precious metals, stones, perfumes and spices acquired. Ambi- 



Columbus — The " Ch nsf- Bearer.'^ 7 

tion and greed ? No. With the money thus gained he would, 
if possible, purchase the Holy Sepulchre from the Moslem ; 
otherwise, with 5,000 horse and 50,000 foot-soldiers, raised at 
his own expense, he would wrest the grave of Christ from the 
infidel, by force; and hand it over, with the holy city of Jerusa- 
lem, to the Pope. This done, Christopher would be the ever- 
wakeful sentinel, watching over the tomb from which our holy 
rehgion took on a new hfe. In 1474 Columbus conceived this 
noble design. To kings, queens, princes in church and state, 
to Popes, he disclosed his design. Dangers, illness, oppro- 
brium, disgrace, made him alter no detail. The idea of the 
delivery of Jerusalem and of the Holy Sepulchre, was not more 
fanciful than the idea of bearing Christ to a new world. And 
the Moslem he would have driven out, just as he did find 
the new world, had not the greed, the jealousies, the meanness 
of common souls, come to the wary devil's aid. 

To one inspired by these apostolic ideas, the dangers of the 
'- gloomy ocean" were as naught; nor could ignorant fears, nor 
threats, make such an one lose faith or hope in Him whose 
glory was to be spread abroad at all cost. ^' Holy Mary " 
Christopher had named the vessel on which he sailed. To 
Mary, the Star of Ocean, each day the crew prayed with 
song. Each day, under their captain's lead, they chanted the 



S Cohufibiis — The ^^Christ-Bcafrr.'' 

Salve Regina. In the watches of the night they prayed; and 
Columbus, watching too, incited them to more intense devo- 
tion. At La Rabida, he wore the habit of a member of the 
third order of St. Francis ; on shipboard he recited the Office 
daily. Why should he fear ? Under the patronage of the 
Mother of Christ, and intent on her Son's work, Columbus was 
assured of success. 

^•^ Land ! land ! " they zr\. The sound of cannon first awak- 
ens the echoes of the New World. The anchors are lowered, 
amid the joyous chanting of the Te Deum. Columbus enters 
a boat. In his hand he holds the staff of the banner blessed 
by the friar, Juan Perez — the banner of the crucified Christ. 
So impatient is Christopher to earn his name, that he leaps 
ashore before the boat has fairly touched land. True Christ- 
bearer at last ! Holding high the standard, he kisses the 
earth, crying out : '• Lord ! Eternal and Almighty God ! who, 
by Thy sacred word, hast created the heavens, the earth and 
the seas, may Thy name be blessed and glorified everywhere. 
May Thy Majesty be exalted, who hast deigned to permit that, 
by Thy humble servant. Thy sacred name should be made 
known and preached in this other part of the world.' Un- 
der the crucifix, to Jesus Christ, Columbus offered up the 
newly-discovered land, which he called by the name of " Holy 



Colli tubus — llie ^^ Christ- Bear err 9 

Saviour"; and then, drawing his sword, he took possession of 
the land in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and forth- 
with the carpenters cut down trees and hewed them into the 
form of a cross, and planted the sacred emblem securely in 
the soil. Accordantly crew and officers sang the Vexilla Re- 
gis. And the land was Christ's. Shall any man ever wTest 
it from Him ? 

The religious character of the mission of Columbus is shown 
by the sweet names he gave to hill, and island, and bay, as he 
sailed among the Bahamas : St. Mary of the Conception, the 
Holy Port, the Bay of the Virgin, Cape Star, the Port of 
Peace, the Mount of Christ. Wherever he landed, the trees 
were hewn down, the Cross lifted up. At once he began to 
instruct the natives in the civilizing truths and devotions of 
Christianity. Feast-days he kept with ceremony. The day of 
the Immaculate Conception was honored by frequent salvos. 

On October 12 Christopher bore Christ to San Salvador. 
Four months later he set sail for Spain. This voyage he dedi- 
cated to the Holy Trinity. The '■' Holy Mary " had been 
wrecked. On the Nina Columbus was now master. A fright- 
ful tempest threatened the two small caravels. Only God 
could save ; man's art and strength were powerless. At the 
suggestion of Columbus, the seamen vowed that one of them, 



1 o Columbus — The ' " Christ- Bearer ^ 

chosen by lot, should, if they were saved, pilgrimage to the 
shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. And again they vowed 
to visit the Loreto house, in Italy, and the shrine of Saint 
Clare, not far distant from Palos; and, last of all, to go in pro- 
cession, barefooted and in their shirts, to the nearest Church 
of the Virgin, wheresoever they should first land. Now, three 
of the vows fell to Columbus, by lot. And being saved from 
the tempest, their joint vow was paid in the Church of Our 
Lady of La Rabida, at Palos, which town they reached on 
Friday, March 15, 1493. 

Picture to yourself the joy with which Fray Juan Perez 
hastened to meet his beloved Christopher, and the mutual 
delights of friar, and father and son; and the devotion with which 
the happy priest celebrated the solemn Mass of thanksgiving 
on the following morning; and the reverence with which the 
town-folk followed the procession of barefooted sailors, in 
their shirts, as they walked from pier to shrine to thank their 
gracious Mother for having preserved them from the depths 
of the sea. Then Columbus paid the vows that had fallen 
to him by lot. Honors rained fast upon him. Viceroy and 
Grand Admiral he was. In triumph he passed through cities 
and towns; and the King and the Queen received him in 
state, and the Queen placed him beside her. Srill Columbus 



— 1 




Columbus — The ''Christ- Bearer'' ii 

did not forget that there is but one King whose favor men 
may count on. And the one unfaiUng King is not of this 
world. 

A Christ-bearer may not rest. On the 25th of September, 
1493? Christopher is once more at sea, on board the " Gra- 
cious ;Mary." He is the admiral of a great fleet. Fray Juan 
Perez is with him, as astronomer of the expedition. Together 
the friends can work for the spread of Cathohc truth. The 
first priest to tread the soil of t'ne New World — " The Land 
of the Holy Cross," as Columbus named it — was Juan Perez; 
and the Franciscan friar, to whom the New World will ever 
be indebted, was certainly the first priest to celebrate Mass 
in the New World. Under the patronage of Our Lady the 
admiral had placed his second expedition ; and in her honor 
did he name the first land he met: '' Gracious Mary." Our 
Lady of Guadeloupe was not forgotten, nor Saint James, nor 
Saint Ursula, nor Michael, nor Raphael, nor the Holy Cross. 
And the first gold-mine was named after Saint Christopher. 
With its wealth the admiral would carry Christ among the 
Indians ; with it would he free the Holy Sepulchre from the 
Moslem. How the great, good man suffered! — almost three 
years of jealousy, greed, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty. At 
length, on March 10, 1496, he set out to return to Spain, 



12 Cohunhus — TJie ^'C/'inst- Bearer,'"' 

The Cross had been established far and wide. To its honor, 
a church had been built. Other sheep had been brought into 
the fold. These were compensations for Christopher's hard 
trials. 

Fray Juan Perez accompanied the admiral home. Of hon- 
ors paid them (5n their arrival at Cadiz, there is no word. 
Enemies have belied the devoted bearer of Christ. The 
court is neglectful. He consoles himself under the habit of 
a Franciscan. He is " oppressed with reproaches." The king 
seeks to deprive him of his well-earned honors. One man 
values him, Jaime Ferrer, a man of vast learning and of 
most varied talents. His words, wTitten to the queen, should 
be often quoted to young and old of the New World : '• 1 
believe that in its high and mysterious designs divine Provi- 
dence has chosen Columbus as its messenger for this work, 
ivJiich seems to me to be hut an iutrodiiction and a preparatioti 
for things which this same divine Frovide?ice reserves to itself 
to disclose to us, for its own glory and the salvation and happi- 
7iess of the world.'' 

For a twelvemonth Christopher's seamen were unpaid. The 
court party conspired against him. He could obtain no aid 
for a third expedition. Only criminals would sail under him, 
so shamefully had he been misrepresented. He bought his 



Cohwibus — The ' ' Christ- Bearer'' 1 3 

own supplies. He wrote a will, a wonderful document, testi- 
fying to his deep sense of his mission, to his abiding faith, to 
his prophetic foresight, and to his devotion to that Holy See, 
centre of unity, to which he had been always so true, and 
which had always shown such a fatherly interest in him. 
One clause of this will is remarkable : " I require of Don 
Diego, or of whomsoever may be in possession of the estate, 
that in case of any schism, on account of our sins, taking 
place in the Church of God, and that by violence any per- 
son, of whatsoever nation or rank he may be, should under- 
take to despoil her of her privileges and property, that imme- 
diately, under pain of being disinherited, he will hasten (unless 
he should be a heretic, which God forbid !) to offer, at the 
feet of the Holy Father, his person, power and wealth, for 
the purpose of suppressing the schism, and preventing the 
spoliation of the honors and property of the Church." Did 
Columbus foresee the coming Luther, who was violently to dis- 
rupt the unity of the Church of God and to impede the progress 
of the true Christ-bearer ? We are proud of our new University. 
Four centuries ago Columbus willed one to Hispaniola, that 
men who would devote themselves to the conversion of the 
Indians might there be instructed. 

What sad voyages were the third and the fourth ! Noble 



14 Cohnnhns — 71ie '-'■ Christ- Bearery 

doing on his part; earnest thought and continued sacrifice 
in the cause of the Faith ; new lands, and new names recall- 
ing the great mysteries and great saints : Trinity, Assump- 
tion, the Land of Grace, Bethlehem, Cape Thanks be to 
God, the river of St.-Christopher. Exhausted with labor and 
care, tortured with pain, half-blind, he submits patiently to the 
indignities of cruel Bobadilla, and returns to ungrateful Spain, 
a prisoner in chains. There he is set free, with polite apol- 
ogies and without fitting compensation. ' There, in poverty, 
he writes inspired poems, praises God ceaselessly, and adds 
more and more to the spread of science. On his fourth and 
last voyage, no longer Grand Admiral, no longer Viceroy, he 
purposes circumnavigating the globe, in the name of the 
Blessed Trinity. And, certainly, as he claimed, the Trinity 
showed him extraordinary favors ; favors well termed miracu- 
lous. From the dangers of the sea, now as ever, he was 
wonderfully preserved. Weak as he was, rheumatic, he bore 
great labors, and made rare discoveries ; fighting wicked men 
and tempests with prayer, with lighted candle and the word 
of God — from first to last Jhe man of strong Catholic faith. 
Awaking, sleeping, God spoke to him, comforted him in all 
his tribulations. How otherwise could he have borne up 
under the weight of woes that afflicted him ? '' Heaven have 



Columbus — The " Christ-B carer r 1 5 

pity on me!" he wrote in sore distress. ''I have hitherto 
wept for others; O Earth! weep now for me. Weep for 
me whoever has charity, truth and justice ! " Can you guess 
the weight of his cross ? 

Once more he is in Spain. Within a month after his 
arrival Isabella dies. From her he had something to hope; 
from the King he expects nothing. Ferdinand is insincere. 
The memorials of Christopher, the cripple, are unanswered. 
The great Cardinal Ximenes presses his case, and protests, in 
the interests of justice, against the King's treatment of the worthy 
discoverer. Poor, helpless, the Christ-Bearer manfully refuses to 
compromise his rights. At ValladoHd, in a mean room, clad 
in the Franciscan garb, his chains hung on the wall, to re- 
mind him of the vanity of this world and of its ingratitude, he 
wears out his last sad, destitute days. On the eve of the 
Feast of the Ascension, May 20, 1506, from a Franciscan 
friar, he receives the last sacraments, humbly, contritely, and 
dies reciting the words : " Into thy hands, O Lord ! I com- 
mend my spirit." A devout CathoHc during his whole Hfe, 
he found in the bosom of the Church, in death as in life, the 
only certain help, comfort and happiness. 

Buried first in the Franciscan convent-ground, his body was 
later removed, by kingly condescension, to the Cathedral of 



1 6 Columbus — The '•''Christ-Bearer^ 

Seville, where it was becomingly honored, and afterward de- 
posited under the Chapel of Christ in the Capuchins' burial- 
place. More than twenty years later it was carried to the 
New World. 

There are still new worlds to discover; not worlds on this 
planet, nor alone worlds in space, but worlds of thought and 
action. Only to those who bear the Crucified One, in heart 
and intellect as Columbus did, shall it be given to discover 
these newer spheres. The bleeding Christ is the risen Christ ; 
and He it is who sent and sends the Spirit that informs all 
men who love and suffer and serve, faithfully, with the 
knowledge, the zeal, by which alone great good things can 
be done in science, in art, in all that makes life on earth 
noble, and the truer life of the hereafter full to overflowtng 
with delight. Through that Spirit, surely, Fray Juan Perez 
was moved to aid the neglected man who, carrying Christ, 
and inspired by the same Spirit, has conferred such unspeak- 
able blessings on worlds, old and new. 

John A. Mooney. 




ARMS OF COLUMBUS. 

xMONG the honorable but less substantial re- 
wards conferred by the Spanish sovereigns, 
Ferdinand and Isabella, upon Christopher Co- 
lumbus for his discovery of America was an 
escutcheon, in which figure (as a rare privi- 
lege; the royal arms themselves, viz.: the castle 
of Castile and the lion of Leon, five anchors to 
show his dignity of Admiral of the Indies, and 
a sea studded with silver islands and bathing a 
continent planted with tropical trees and strewn with particles 
of gold. The third quarter is poor heraldry. It is a coarse sign- 
picture to signify the New World, but it might also be a me- 
diaeval miniature to illustrate Grav's lines : 



Full many a gem ol purest ray serene 

The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear 

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



The A^oiPid (a corru]nion"of the French word mojidc, thi 



1 8 Columbus — The ' ' Christ-Bearer. '' 

world) surmounted by a cross, which dominates the whole shield, 
and which formerly was part of the regalia of every Christian 
king, is truly noble. It was probably suggested by Isabella the 
Catholic as fit to be given to him who had opened such 
a way for the triumph of religion. The motto, too, which 
has been admired by all writers on the subject, is sublime. 
In the origmal Spanish it makes two rhyming verses, and 
means "Columbus gave a New World to Castile and to Leon." 
One of the finest Ladn verses we have ever seen on Colum- 
bus is inscribed over the door of a house at Cogoleto, in 
Italy, where it is pretended that he Avas born. It is the 
thought of a passing iinprovisatore : 

" Unus erat niundus; duo siiit, aitlste: fuere." 

The present representative and descendant of Columbus in 
the female line (the male Hne being extinct) is the Duke of 
Veraguas and Marquis of Jamaica, who enjoys an hereditary 
pension from the Spanisli government. 

MONSIGNOR SeTON. 



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